New York, London Bars Craft Cocktail Menus Around Art Collections

(MENAFN- USA Art News) New York restaurants and several London hotel bars are developing cocktail menus that draw inspiration from art collections and artists' works, giving their offerings a distinctive identity. While the practice of naming drinks after painters, such as the Bellini in 1948, is not new, it is evolving into a more systematic approach. House art collections or artist archives are becoming a continuous source of ideas for recipes.

This trend is particularly prominent in New York and London, both major art market hubs where hotels often house significant collections. This timing is strategic, as high-end bars increasingly compete to offer more than just an impressive drink list, using art to establish a unique point of view for their entire menu.

Some bartenders create cocktails first, then find names and visual connections to existing artworks. Others allow an image to guide the ingredients. Miroo Kim, formerly bar manager at Atomix, now oversees the cocktail menu at Romy, a new restaurant in Soho that opened on September 29. Kim had already completed her recipes when she learned that American painter George Condo's work would be displayed in the restaurant.“The cocktails actually came first,” Kim told Observer.

The team began discussing names on the same day. Kim's brown butter carajillo, a coffee and liquor cocktail, became Internal Riot, sharing its title with a 2020 Condo painting and his 2020–21 New York exhibition. Romy is located in the former Little Prince space at 199 Prince St., where interior designer Rafael de Cárdenas framed the art with oxblood and black-lacquered paneling, burled wood, and leopard-patterned carpet.

Condo's portraits, which he terms“psychological cubism,” depict delight and distress sharing a single fractured face. Kim sought images and titles that resonated with her recipes.“I didn't want it to feel like we were just going through a list of Condo titles and picking ones that sounded good,” she explained. The cacao-infused reposado tequila and coffee in Internal Riot had a dark, roasted character that Kim associated with Condo's imagery. The title also conveyed her joke about the combined effects of caffeine and liquor:“You have liquor and coffee together, which are two things doing very different things to your body at the same time.”

Her lychee martini, Mary Annette, is named after Condo's 2003 painting. Kim linked the title to Marie Antoinette, France's 18th-century queen, an association that suited the drink's coconut oil-washed vodka and pink lychee gummy. She also found a visual parallel in the nearly opaque white drink, served in a tall, delicate glass, with the gummy casting a faint pink hue. While the drink names draw from Condo's broader archive, the specific works displayed at Romy are Blue Rodrigo ( 2009 ) and Bewildered Man ( 2025 ).

Kim noted that the art provided a“language for naming them and, in some cases, brought out a personality in the drink that was already there.” The historical precedent of the Bellini cocktail dates back to 1948, when Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry's Bar in Venice, named his peach and Prosecco mixture after the Renaissance painter Giovanni Bellini.

In 2022, at New York's Baccarat Hotel, bar manager Mark Tubridy developed his L'Art du Cocktail menu inspired by the hotel bar's collection. His Dark Sky cocktail, a variation on the Dark N' Stormy, used cinnamon-oat milk beneath a float of dark rum, mirroring an image of ominous clouds against a pale background.

London's One Aldwych hotel's Lobby Bar features a second Gallery menu that pairs cocktails with works from its collection. Artist Richard Bartle's Beach Scene inspired a Gooseberry Margarita, made with tequila, gooseberry eau de vie, and elderflower. This menu also indicates where guests can find the original artwork, integrating the collection into the drink ordering experience. For its 2026 pop-up at Frieze Masters, London's historical art fair, Ham Yard Hotel's Liquid Art menu will include the Sculptural Mule, which references Liverpool-born sculptor Tony Cragg's bronze Group in the hotel's Soho courtyard.

At Scarfes Bar inside the Rosewood London hotel in Holborn, the cocktail premise is set by drawings. The bar is named for Gerald Scarfe, the British cartoonist known for his political caricatures, including the imagery for Pink Floyd's The Wall album and film. His paintings adorn a room with velvet chairs, bookshelves, and a fireplace, creating a civilized backdrop for his provocative art.

Launched in April, Scarfes' Heroes & Villains menu draws on Scarfe's book and exhibition of the same name. Twenty cocktails interpret 10 figures in pairs, with each villain revealed by a concealed pullout. The menu extends Scarfe's satirical approach to bartending, pairing restrained recipes with more extravagant counterparts. Andy Loudon, Rosewood London's director of bars, explained that the pairing for Charles Darwin explores the contrast between the British naturalist and his caricature. Natural Selection is a whisky highball with raspberry, carrot, and dry fino sherry. In contrast, Evolution, inspired by the excess of the potent Zombie cocktail, uses bourbon, pistachio orgeat, and sour pineapple. Loudon described its development as“More ingredients, more texture, more indulgence and absolutely no interest in moderation.”

Achieving these distinct drink personalities involves meticulous work at the bar. Loudon's team tests infusion extraction times and adjusts cordial sugar and acidity, iterating dozens of times before finalizing each cocktail.“If an element strengthened the narrative but weakened the drinking experience, it was refined, simplified or removed entirely,” he stated. The extent of this narrative shared with guests varies; some prefer a 20-second introduction, while others welcome a three-minute discussion about the portrayed figure or recipe techniques.“For me, it's important that the team are given building blocks rather than a script,” Loudon said.“I never want service to feel rehearsed or repeated.”

Ultimately, these establishments aim to keep art engaged long after opening night. Kim can adapt Romy's recipes by revisiting Condo's archive. At One Aldwych, the menu guides guests back to the art collection that inspired their drinks. Loudon's team infuses Scarfe's satire into flavors and evaluates whether the concept improves the cocktail.“The story can inspire the drink, but flavor has to win,” Loudon emphasized. While artful references may reward a deeper look, the pleasure of the drink itself needs no footnotes.

Source: Observer Arts

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